Strict IPR Guidelines for London Olympics’ 2012

Disclaimer: Please note that this article is only for informative and knowledge purpose for general public. The author has no intend to publicize him or his associates with this article.

Why strict guidelines?

Every marketer is targeting the biggest sporting event: London Olympic and to catch worldwide
customer’s attention, emotions, excitement and value the commercial companies be it of any size, are also pumped up.

But never before in history of Olympics, London this time has issued intellectual property (IP) related guidelines to marketers to ensure there is no illegal use of “Olympics” while “selling”. This is done to protect the rights of many partners who have invested so much in the event. The list of partners is given below:

What are the guidelines?

The London organising committee of games and Paralympic games (LOCOG) laid down ‘The London Olympic Games Act 2006’ to prevent unauthorised commercial use of the most authorised symbol in the world.

The legal frame work involves the rights at LOCOG’s disposal which are a combination of registered trademarks, registered designs, copyright and a new right introduced in the London Olympics Act, the association right of worth of hundreds of millions of pounds.

LOCOG has listed the following Expressions which will come under infringement:

Some of the examples of what will be considered as RIGHT or WRONG for non-partners is given below:

Above stated examples clearly defines the IP guides which all the marketers need to be aware in order to avoid any infringement of ‘The London Olympic Games Act 2006’ and if any one which wish to get associated, is suggested to kindly follow the official norms and guideline stated in the reference below.